Watchdog

Two US Senators are feeling anything but friendly toward Eduardo Saverin, one of the cofounders of the social networking site Facebook. They have proposed new legislation, called the Ex-PATRIOT Act, which would impose a mandatory 30-percent capital gains tax rate for expatriates on all future investment gains.

Barbara Murry, Douglas Murry, Douglas Murry III, Yolanda Moses, Lee Moses, Veronica Temple, Jeffrey Temple, Almetta Johnson, and Courtney Johnson were charged in an indictment by a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama on a variety of counts stemming from an identity theft and tax fraud scheme.

According to the Business Software Alliance's (BSA) ninth annual study - 2011 BSA Global Software Piracy Study - the value of software theft is at an astounding all-time high ? $63.4 billion in 2011, up from $58.8 billion in 2010.

Margaret Kirksey, a resident of Montgomery, Alabama, was sentenced May 8 in the Middle District of Alabama to eighty-one months in federal prison for filing false tax returns using stolen identities, the Justice Department and the IRS announced.

Veronica Dale and Alchico Grant, who jointly ran a stolen identity refund fraud ring that attempted to defraud the United States of millions of dollars over several years, were sentenced to federal prison May 8, 2012, the Justice Department and the IRS announced.

New York Tax Preparer Sentenced for Tax Fraud
Howard Levine, owner of a Dix Hill, New York, tax preparation business, was sentenced to thirty-seven months in prison for tax crimes, the Justice Department and IRS announced April 26, 2012. Levine was also ordered to pay $320,998 in restitution to the IRS.

Kevin P. Mahoney of Massachusetts was sentenced April 24 to sixty months in prison following trial convictions on corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the administration of the Internal Revenue laws, filing false tax returns with the IRS, and criminal contempt of court, the Justice Department and the IRS announced.

Thomas Mitchell of Mansfield, Ohio, pleaded guilty before United States District Judge George J. Limbert of the Northern District of Ohio to criminal information charging him with willfully failing to file an income tax return with the IRS, the Justice Department and the IRS announced April 16, 2012.

Rebecca Renae Powell, a resident of Wasilla, Alaska, has been charged with six counts of preparing false income tax returns for several clients whose primary source of income was from the sale of illegal narcotics.

Stephen A. Favato, a resident of Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, and a former partner in BDO Seidman LLP's Woodbridge, New Jersey, office, was sentenced to eighteen months in prison for tax crimes, the Justice Department and the IRS announced April 16.

Findings from a survey of ethics in the workplace may portend a future downward shift in business ethics. The percentage of companies with a weak ethical culture is on the rise, as is the number of employees who experienced retaliation for blowing the whistle on observed misconduct.

Troy Beam of Pennsylvania was sentenced April 10 to 74 months in prison by US District Judge Christopher C. Conner, the Justice Department, and the IRS. On May 4, 2011, Beam was convicted of tax evasion, obstructing and impeding the due administration of the IRS laws, and willful failure to file federal income tax returns.

On April 19, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman filed a lawsuit against Sprint-Nextel for deliberately under-collecting and underpaying millions of dollars in New York state and local sales taxes on flat-rate access charges for wireless calling plans.
Also on April 19, Sprint Nextel responded to the allegations.

A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment charging Enyinnaya Udo with twenty-five counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false income tax returns, the Justice Department and the IRS announced April 6.